Skip to main content

Chinese tunnel projects discussed

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Wen Jiabao, Premier of the People’s Republic of China, recently visited the Herrenknecht plant in Guangzhou as part of her trip to China. The delegation included, among others, 20 high-level representatives of German industry, and Dr Martin Herrenknecht, chairman of Herrenknecht, presented the company to Chancellor Merkel and Premier Wen, and talked about important Chinese and international reference projects.
May 14, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Seen in front of the Herrenknecht EPB Shield being used for the Metro in Dongguan are visitors to the company's plant including (second from left) Dr Martin Herrenknecht; Dr Angela Merkel (third from left) and Wen Jiabao (fourth from left)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Wen Jiabao, Premier of the People’s Republic of China, recently visited the 2592 Herrenknecht plant in Guangzhou as part of her trip to China.

The delegation included, among others, 20 high-level representatives of German industry, and Dr Martin Herrenknecht, chairman of Herrenknecht, presented the company to Chancellor Merkel and Premier Wen, and talked about important Chinese and international reference projects.

In addition, he introduced a tunnel boring machine (TBM), an Earth Pressure Balance Shield with a diameter of 6.95m, which is being used to construct the Metro Line 2 in Dongguan.

Herrenknecht has been represented on the Chinese growth market since the delivery of the first machines for the construction of the Beijing metro in 2000, and the company generates around 20% of its group sales in China.

The huge economic growth and increasing urbanisation result in a high demand for efficient underground traffic and supply infrastructures, and to date Herrenknecht technology has been used in 275 projects, mostly for inner-city tunnel construction. Some 480km of tunnel tubes have been built using its technology, while a further 200km are being planned.

Among the most important projects is the construction of two double-storey traffic tunnels in Shanghai to connect Changxing river island with the mainland, work carried out using two of the world’s biggest TBMs with diameters of 15.43m each.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Let’s Boogie in a new tunnel
    July 7, 2020
    The new Victory Boogie Woogie Tunnel will be the most sustainable tunnel in the Netherlands.
  • State-of-the art road tunnels in construction and use of ITS
    April 25, 2013
    A wealth of major road tunnel construction projects and significant cant ITS installations within existing key road tunnels have been recently completed or will soon be underway. Guy Woodford examines some of them. A state-of-the art Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) - the 10th largest ever to be built worldwide will be put to work later this year on New Zealand Transport Agency’s landmark Waterview Connection project in Auckland. The giant Herrenknecht-manufactured machine will be used to construct the twin 2.5
  • British Tunnelling Society conference: digging deep for data
    December 13, 2016
    Tunnelling innovation is creating mountains of data for contractors and designers, delegates to a recent British Tunnelling Society (BTS) conference heard Successful innovation in tunnelling techniques and technologies is creating more and more data, thanks to digitalisation.
  • Tunnelling achievement award for Herrenknecht
    November 18, 2016
    The International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA) has granted a lifetime achievement award to Dr Ing Martin Herrenknecht. The award was presented at the recent ITA event in Singapore and reflects his experience in delivering a series of ambitious tunnelling projects. In the past 20 years Herrenknecht has met major challenges in tunnel engineering and delivered effective solutions for projects. Key successes include the twin drive, 57km-long Gotthard Base Tunnel in Switzerland that open